A Wish the Heart Makes
by RobinLost
Summary: After destroying the Mega Weapon, the ninja find they are still trapped in the past. This is going to change a few things.
1. Chapter 1

"Happy birthday to me!" Lloyd sang as quietly as he could, eyes quickly darting up to check there were no lights visible from the school, before blowing out the candle on his cupcake. "I wish… I wish someone would come and take me away." A single tear escaped, as he removed the candle and bit down on the cake.

There was a whisper, the tree leaves above him rustled in the wind. Lloyd shivered. "Who's there?" He called out.

"Yea, sorry." A young man dropped in front of him, dressed like a ninja. Lloyd blinked, and backed away. "I'm Kai." The man crouched down and held out his hand.

"What do you want?" Lloyd demanded, backing away.

Kai faltered, his eyes going sad even as his smile firmed. "We came to check up on you Lloyd."

"We?" Lloyd asked.o

"Kai!" Was hissed from above, Lloyd glanced up, but he couldn't see anyone.

"I'm one of your uncle's students." Kai explained. "Ex student now I guess. Sensei Wu's decided he's not going to teach us anymore."

Lloyd's heart twisted. "He doesn't want you either?"

Kai flinched. "Lloyd…" Kai reached for him, and impulsively Lloyd ran into his arms. Kai felt warm, Lloyd tangled his fingers in his clothes and focused on remembering, Kai smelled of copper and steel, a little musky, solid and real.

Lloyd sniffled a bit, hiding his face.

Safe. Kai felt safe.

"Kai, you can't keep him."

Kai rubbed his back, and stood up, tucking Lloyd into his side. "I can't leave him here." Kai objected.

Lloyd turned his head, there were his uncle's other students. He wondered what they had done to get banished like his father.

"This is a really sad cake." The one in black said, picking up Lloyd's half eaten birthday cake. "What were you doing out here cupcake?"

It took Lloyd a moment to realise that the ninja was talking to him, rather than the cake. His eyes burned. "That's mine." He snapped.

Dark eyes narrowed. "So, I guess we're kidnapping the Son of Lord Garmadon?"

"Cole!" The one in blue yelled. "Think about the future, we're going to mess it up!"

"You're kidnapping me?" Lloyd asked, turning back to Kai.

"No! Yes… maybe." Kai sighed. "Guys?"

"Jay is correct, this will definitely change the future." The white ninja said. "However… I find myself distressed at the idea of leaving Lloyd here."

"We can at least give him a better Birthday." Cole put in.

"Are you seriously making me be the responsible one?" Jay asked. "He has a destiny."

"Jay. Childhood." Kai said.

The ninja flinched. "Running away from Destiny it is then." Jay declared, ruffling Lloyd's hair and making it stand on end.

"Really?" Lloyd asked, grinning in disbelief.

"Yeah, the serpentine can wait." Cole slung an arm around Kai, a steady strength behind them.

"Although we will probably need to train." Zane said, "I believe this outcome will be much more favourable." Placing a hand on Lloyd's shoulder.

Surrounded by ninja, Lloyd felt protected and safe. It wasn't a familiar feeling.

"I think this is already the best Birthday ever!" Lloyd declared.


	2. Chapter 2

Lloyd woke up slowly, confused but warm, momentarily disoriented, this wasn't his dorm room.

He seemed to be in a pile of bodies.

Newly familiar scents hit his nose. Burnt copper, ozone, powdered sugar, and the sharp bite of winter.

He wiggled out from between the ninja, Jay made a small noise of protest, and rolled over to snuggle against Kai.

Lloyd giggled, Kai seemed to be the favourite cuddle toy, since Cole was on his other side. Still, that only accounted for three of the ninja. Where was Zane?

"Hungry?"

Lloyd jumped and squeaked, spinning around to find Zane holding out a baked apple on a stick.

"Thanks." Lloyd said, taking the apple, and giving the fruit a wary look before biting in. His teeth sunk into the warm apple, and his eyes widened "It's good." He said, happily munching away on the baked fruit as the juices ran down his chin.

"Just don't expect sweets every breakfast." Zane warned. There was a faint smile on his face. "Kai might object."

"But it would be awesome." Cole whispered in Lloyd's ear, making him jump. Lloyd hadn't even noticed the others waking up.

"We are not eating cake all the time Cole." Kai yelled.

"Kai would definitely object." Jay declared, yawning.

"Hey, it's not like we have to keep in peak condition anymore." Cole said, "what's a little bit of cake here and there?"

"But we already have a little bit of cake here and there." Zane said, his voice humming with amusement.

"I suppose…" Cole reluctantly agreed. "But there's always room for more." He swiped his own apple from the fire, instantly burning his fingers. Lloyd giggled nervously at his antics, and fell silent as Kai swung an arm around his shoulders.

"Anyway. What are we going to do today?" Kai asked, squeezing Lloyd's shoulder and pulling him close. Kai was warm, and Lloyd bit his lip as he cautiously leaned into the Red ninja, all too aware that the copper scent that lingered around the ninja probably wasn't actually copper. "we should probably pick up some supplies now we have Lloyd with us."

"Childhood Kai!" Jay said, almost barrelling over both Kai and Lloyd as he latched onto the Red ninja. "We should do something fun, for Lloyd. Like an amusement park! Or roller derby! Or..."

"Fishing?" Kai offered with a smirk.

Jay frowned at Kai, turning to give Cole a pleading look.

"Hey, don't look at me, the most fun I had at Lloyd's age was sabotaging the dance hall." Cole said.

"I like fishing." Zane said.

"But it's so boring, you just sit there and wait." Jay sighed dramatically.

Lloyd bit down on his fist to avoid giggling again.

"You never went fishing with my mum." Kai said. "It'll be fun, I promise."

"Lloyd, please!" Jay dropped down to his knees in front of Lloyd, hands clasped together, "please tell Kai you don't want to go fishing."

Lloyd glanced up at Kai. "Is it really my choice?"

"Sure kid. We're not going to let you do anything too dangerous, and we kind of want to avoid attention, but if you have an idea, let's hear it."

"I've never gone fishing before." Lloyd admitted, expecting that would be the end of it. Why would they take him fishing when he was no good at it?

"We'll teach you." Kai promised. Lloyd froze, still staring up at Kai. He doesn't think Kai notices.

"Well, Kai will. I've never fished in my life, and I don't think Sparky has either." Cole said with a laugh.

"Hey!" Jay objected, "well if Kai says it's fun." He sighed dramatically, then ruffled Lloyd's hair. "Your choice kid."

Lloyd didn't actually know what to expect when Kai suggested fishing. He had a vague idea about long poles and father-son bonding time, or swinging nets out from boats.

Instead, he was crawling through mud.

Lloyd giggled quietly, not that it was heard over Jay and Kai's bickering, only half paying attention to the water as he let his hand float in the water.

His hand was going numb as something bumped against his fingers. Lloyd's breath caught as he tried not to react, Kai's instructions jumbling together in his mind.

The fish bumped against his fingers again, and it took every bit of willpower in his tiny body not to start giggling again, the fish tickled! It was trying to nibble on his fingers!

Quick as a flash, his fingers clasped around the fish, snatching it out the water. "I caught one!" He yelled, bouncing to his feet.

Then the world seemed to tilt sideways.

Lloyd yelped as he slipped in the mud, almost tumbling into the river.

Someone caught him, a strong pair of arms hauling him back, "Got you Jellybean." Cole said, putting him back on solid ground and making sure Lloyd was stable before letting him go.

Lloyd blinked up at the ninja, scooting back from the water. Cole smiled at him, and Lloyd wasn't entirely sure what to do about that. "Thanks" he muttered, ducking his head.

"Still got your prize?" Cole asked, tilting his head.

Lloyd glanced down at his hands, the fish slightly crushed from his panic. It was flapping weakly, gasping for air, a dull silver and smaller than Lloyd expected. It had felt massive as he pulled it out the water.

"I guess so." Lloyd said, he couldn't quite keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Cole ruffled his hair, "Well done! I still haven't caught one, I don't think I'm fast enough."

Lloyd perked up at this, "I think patience is more important." He said with all the wisdom of someone who has caught his very first fish.

"Yeah?" Cole said, "Then I'm kind of glad Zane's in charge of catching dinner, between you and me, Kai and Jay don't have a whole lot of patience." The last was said in a hushed whisper, but there was that teasing tone Lloyd was starting to get used to.

It was weird, like there wasn't any sharpness beneath the words, any of those hidden meanings that always seemed to come back and bite him later.

Lloyd jumped as there was suddenly a loud splash behind him, and a startled scream. He spun around in time to see a soaking wet Kai drag Jay into the river with a yelp.

He glanced at Cole, half expecting the ninja to go diving after the others, when instead he had covered his eyes.

"Um…" Lloyd tried, "shouldn't you be…" he gestured at the river, where Kai and Jay were splashing each other and frightening away all the fish.

Cole sighed heavily, "and here I was hoping I wasn't going to get wet today." He went after Kai and Jay, while Lloyd crept over to Zane, almost sending them both tumbling into the water when Lloyd slipped again.

Zane caught him with a firm arm across his chest, the white ninja was harder than Cole, his arm didn't give way at all when Lloyd caught hold of it, it was like running into a railing. Zane turned, his movements awkward as he tried to sit up while keeping Lloyd out of the water, and not entirely successful as Lloyd's leg dipped in before Zane could haul him back.

"I caught a fish." Lloyd offered, flushing as Zane held his hoodie tightly, the fabric brunching up. Lloyd held out his much abused catch. He felt vaguely guilty for clutching it so tightly, it had stopped wiggling in his hands.

"Well done Lloyd. Do you want to add it to mine?" Zane asked as he let go, indicating the bucket full of fish a little bit away from the river bank, the water looked slushy with ice, not quite frozen over but starting to.

"Sure." Lloyd agreed, dropping the fish in the bucket. It looked even tinier next to Zane's. Lloyd shuffled his feet, his shoes going squish in the mud, glancing over to the other ninja, who were splashing each other, and maybe trying to drown Jay. He inched closer to Zane.

"You did well for a first attempt." Zane said, "the first time I went fishing I didn't catch anything. Unless you count a fish shaped leaf."

Lloyd hesitated again. It was weird, he wasn't usually this nervous. The ninja were weird.

"I guess." He looked down at his fish, only half believing he had actually done it. But there was his fish. Kind of bruised, and only weakly flapping his tail but his.

"Do you want to try again? We will need to move upstream." Zane asked.

Lloyd glanced at the others, his mouth turning downwards. Both Kai and Jay were trying to pull Cole down, but the black ninja was standing firm, half lifting the others out of the water on either arm.

Zane leaned down and whispered in his ear, "If we snuck up on the others, how would you suggest we surprise them?"

Lloyd hesitated, then grinned, toeing the mud. "I have an idea."

The mud was perfect, sticky and slimy and easy to make balls out of. Lloyd tried not to giggle too much. Zane showed him how to step on the grass rather than sinking into the squishy mud, although Lloyd's trousers were already sporting a thick coat of mud.

Zane, somehow, was almost spotless. A few dabs of mud on his cuffs was the only thing marring his clothing.

The look on Kai's face when Lloyd's mud ball hit him in the chest made Lloyd burst into fits of laughter. Jay frailed backwards, causing a massive splash.

Cole just raised an eyebrow and brushed the mud off his gi.

"Zane!" Jay scrambled to his feet, using Cole to steady himself. "How could you?"

"Well if you will leave yourself open to an attack, it is hard not to take advantage." Zane said.

Lloyd's laughter calmed, Kai still hadn't said anything, and his continued silence was making Lloyd nervous.

"I can't believe my own bro betrayed me!" Kai said dramatically, placing his hand over his heart "Lloyd! How could you tempt Zane over to the dark side?"

"Um…" Lloyd glanced at Zane.

"Who said it was Lloyd doing the tempting?" Zane asked.

"Clearly there is only one thing we can do in the face of this immense betrayal!" Jay declared.

"Get them?" Cole asked. He couldn't seem to help laughing.

"Get them!" Yelled Kai and Jay, charging out of the water.

Lloyd bolted, giggling at the ninja's antics, almost crashing into Jay, who had somehow gotten ahead of him, and bouncing off of Kai as he darted to the left.

Lloyd stumbled, feeling the ghost of hands not quite touching him, and twisted around to run in a new direction, red and blue both laughing as they chased after him.

"Gonna get ya!" Jay called, catching up with Lloyd and letting him duck away with a smudge of mud on his hoodie.

Kai laughed, and hummed chase music as he circled around Lloyd.

Lloyd laughed and slipped. Jay caught him, a steadying presence around his chest. Lloyd went quiet, catching his breath and figuring the chase was up.

Jay let go.

Lloyd didn't waste a second, darting away again. "Can't catch me!" He yelled as he laughed, not quite believing his luck.

"Gotcher!" Kai yelled, scooping Lloyd up and tickling him.

Lloyd squealed his laughter, unable to stop until he could barely catch his breath. Kai stopped, still holding him up as he let Lloyd calm down a little.

Suddenly tired, Lloyd tucked his head against Kai's chest, surprised to find Kai's heartbeat was a rapid thump thump.

"Had enough?" Kai asked.

Lloyd yawned. "That was fun." He declared, going quiet. Kai shifted him so Lloyd was more securely tucked against his side.

"Yeah, that's the most fun I've had in ages." Kai agreed.

"I wish you were really my brother." Lloyd murmured, dozing off, "I don't ever want to go back to Darkley's."

"You won't have to Lloyd." Kai said, "I promised to look after you."

Lloyd wasn't sure he heard correctly. It was a nice dream.

But no one ever wanted Lloyd Garmadon.


	3. Chapter 3

Lloyd is tiny.

Kai isn't quite sure how to deal with that.

It's making his brain do strange little flip flops. He kind of got used to Lloyd being his size, and he's almost sure Lloyd wasn't quite this small before.

He can't stop staring because Lloyd just fell asleep in his arms, and sure they wore out the kid, but the Lloyd before wouldn't have done that, he would have forced himself to stay awake with stubborn determination.

"Kai?" Jay nudged him, and Kai honestly hadn't heard him approach.

Kai shifted Lloyd so he's more secure, the kid's fingers tangle in his clothes, he murmured lightly in his sleep. "He just fell asleep." Kai can't keep the bewilderment out of his voice.

"Well, he is just a kid. Don't they do that?" Jay asked, his hand hovers over Lloyd. His fingers curl and he pulls his arm back as Kai watches.

"I guess…" Kai answers, "We should check with Zane, make sure there's nothing wrong."

Jay is quiet, and Kai starts walking, he knows this silence, and he's not quite ready to talk yet. He hopes…

"We should put him back." Jay said.

Kai's grip tightens, and he shifts Lloyd away from Jay. "No."

"If he's sick..."

"No."

"Kai, be reasonable, we never should have taken him!"

Kai flinched. He knows this. "He's mine, and I'm not leaving him again. I can't." Kai's chest hurts, "You don't have to stick around. I can deal. You can…"

Jay hits him. It's just a light tap on the arm. It still stuns Kai. "I'm not leaving. He's my little brother too."

"Thanks." Kai can't look Jay in the eyes. There's an interesting moss growing on the trees. It's still too quiet walking back to the others.

* * *

"Wakey wakey Allegatee!"

Lloyd jerked awake to someone shaking him, he blinked and shoved the tangle of blankets off. "I think you mean Allegator?"

"Nope! That doesn't rhyme." Cole was grinning at him. "Come on sleepyhead, Zane did a great job cooking the fish, don't you want some?" He waved one of the fish under Lloyd's nose.

Lloyd lunged forward, expecting the ninja to dangle it out of his reach if he didn't act fast enough.

He was right, Lloyd wasn't fast enough and he growled as Cole jumped back "Whoo kid, if you were that hungry you should have said something, we have travel mix." He offered the fish, and when Lloyd didn't take the bait again, put it in his hands.

Lloyd lifted it up to take a bite, hesitating as he looked into the fish's silvery eyes. His breath quickened as the fish stared back at him. "I'm not hungry." He pushed the fish back towards Cole, refusing to look at it.

"Right, my little bundle of contradictions, you have to eat. You like fish. Trust me, this is miles better than our travel mix." Cole waved the fish under Lloyd's nose again.

"I hate fish fingers." Lloyd snapped, "They're all crunchy and gross.

"You should try them with custard sometime. Now that's an experience." Cole teased.

"Eww!" Lloyd scrunched up his nose, feeling nauseous just at the thought.

"Come on Lloyd, I promise these taste nothing like fish fingers. It's flakey and soft and a bit salty." Cole waved the fish in front of Lloyd again.

"It's staring at me." Lloyd pouted. "I'm not hungry." He folded his arms across his chest, even as his stomach grumbled.

Lloyd didn't look up as Cole backed away, as much as he wanted to. He could hear them whispering about him. He wasn't gonna cry. He wasn't.

He sneaked a look and they were huddled together, then looked back down as they seemed to come to some sort of decision.

He didn't look up as someone settled beside him.

"So what do you normally eat?" Jay asked.

Lloyd inched away from him. Jay sighed. They were going to send him back. Lloyd knew it.

"I get it you know, it's scary the first time you realise other people cook some really weird food. It's not what you're used to, and it looks wrong and you're all grossed out, but then you try something, and maybe the first thing you try tastes awful, like brie, I hate brie, cheese should not go squish! But maybe you find something you really like, like peanut butter on hamburgers."

"You eat peanut butter on hamburgers?" Lloyd couldn't help looking up, trying to measure the truthfulness of the ninja. This wasn't how he expected the conversation to go.

"If you think that's weird, you should try some of Cole's recipes." Jay grinned, "but Zane's a great cook, I've never eaten something of his I didn't like."

"But it was staring at me." Lloyd whispered, almost crawling into Jay's lap to pull him down. "It was creepy! I don't want to eat something that's staring at me!"

"So we cut off the head?" Jay asked, causing Lloyd to whimpered in protest, "okay I admit that sounded bad… we could blindfold you?"

"You're not very good at this."

"Do I get points for trying?"

"No."

Lloyd's stomach rumbled again.

"Look, if you try the fish, you can have my last chocolate bar." Jay said, "but if you're coming with us, you kinda have to learn to eat what we eat."

Lloyd stared at the ground. There was a line of ants, carrying bits of leaves.

"Do you want to go back to Darkley's?" Jay asked.

"No." Lloyd hated how his voice wavered. He knew it! Jay was just waiting for an excuse.

"Are you going to try the fish?"

"I guess."

It was shoved over his nose again, this time missing the head and tail, and Lloyd flinched back.

Jay sighed. "Okay, fine." He sliced the fish open, cutting a bit off. "Open your mouth."

Lloyd's mouth had already dropped open in surprise that Jay was so skilled with a blade, and didn't clamp it shut before Jay could pop the piece of fish in his mouth.

Lloyd almost spat it out again. But he was hungry. It tasted ok. Kinda of murky. He considered the taste before deciding to swallow.

"I guess it wasn't that bad…" Lloyd said, "Do I get the chocolate bar now?"

"Do you think you can eat the rest of the fish?" Jay asked.

Lloyd's stomach whimpered, feed me, feed me!

Lloyd reached for the fish reluctantly.

He hid the chocolate bar when Jay gave it to him. Maybe the fish was okay, but he definitely wasn't eating peanut butter on hamburgers.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: it's my Birthday today, so in Grand Hobbit tradition here's my gift from me to you. Enjoy!

* * *

Cole's never known Lloyd to be fussy over what they ate, he was far more likely to just eat whatever was put in front of him. None of them was exactly fussy when it came to food. Kai might hesitate when it was something he wasn't familiar with, Jay would complain incessantly but still eat, Zane rarely voiced an opinion.

It's nagging at his mind, leaving his sleep restless.

They hadn't exactly packed a ton of travel supplies before making the leap into the unknown. Just whatever they had on them.

Which hadn't mattered when it was just them, they could live off the land and if they missed a meal or two, they could deal.

But Lloyd's a kid, and kids need to eat.

They all need to eat really. Cole's not looking forward to when they can't and tempers start to flare, because it's hard enough that they can't go home…

Cole opens his eyes. Sleep well and truly out of his reach.

He can't go home.

He's never going to see his Dad again.

No, worse, he's going to see and hear his father everywhere he goes, and his Dad doesn't even know he exists.

His chest hurts, he can't breathe, he needs…

He slips away from the others, he's not going to wake them. The air is chilly away from the embers of fire and the warmth of his friends.

Brothers. His brothers.

His eyes are burning but he can't, he can't... he needs…

He runs.

His breath is ragged, his chest hurts, the chill air burns and freezes his lungs as he gasps for breath.

He doesn't see.

He trips, or slips, or something, and he's falling, rolling out of control down a muddy slope.

He hits a tree, and lies there stunned as bits of trigs and leaves fall down around him.

Cole doesn't know how long he lies there, before he starts to laugh. He hit a tree! The tree won!

He's grinning as he gets to his feet, brushing the worse of the mud off. He still looks like he took a mud bath. He's still a little sore.

He's amused as he slips down the slope again. The moonlight is barely enough to see by, but the rivets of his fall shimmers in what little light there is.

It takes a few attempts. The others would laugh at him. The others are going to laugh at him.

The Great Master of Earth, defeated by a little mud.

And a tree.

He's grinning again, a bounce in his step as he heads back to their camp.

Something darts by, catching Cole's attention. It's fast. Not a bird. It doesn't fly like a bird.

It's gone before he can decide what it was. Too big to be a moth. Flight too random for a bird.

He's watching the tree tops, curious enough to hope to see it again.

He does, clawing at the air and gone in a moment.

Maybe Zane would know?

He pauses to check he's still going in the right direction. There's bushes off to the side, they're familiar. He can smell something sweet.

Raspberries!

Lloyd likes raspberries, right?

* * *

Super Secret Ninja Garmadon, Lloyd Garmadon, carefully ducked under the trip wire, avoiding the deadly poisonous needles as instructed, and slowly inched ever closer to his target.

Something tugged on his hoodie.

Oh no! He was caught! The trap snagging at the fabric. He tugged back, hoping the spikes would let go.

They didn't.

Lloyd bit on his lip as he reached over to grab the branch, making sure to hold it between the spikes, and unhooked his hoodie.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the bush let him go, and turned back to his target.

His sweet, juicy target. The red berries just out of reach.

He wiggled forward, stepping sideways, tracking the branch the target was hanging from.

There!

He frowned. The League of heroes had done a remarkable job of security, but he was Lloyd Garmadon! A lack of height wasn't going to stop him!

Mhahahaha!

He wiggled closer to the branch, reaching up on his tip toes, almost! Almost! He sucked in his stomach, and stretched as far as he could, his body straining.

A finger hooked around the branch and he pulled it down, nearly falling backwards.

The juicy red raspberries hung just above his head.

Time to extract the super secret documents from their trapped cases! Lloyd eased them off one by one, the raspberries so ripe they almost fell into his hand. Then he tugged and one didn't come free.

A trap! The Heroes had set false documents, fakes that looked like the real thing but were in fact sour fakes!

Quick! Swallow the evidence before they find you!

Lloyd closed his eyes as the sweetness hit his tongue, the mouthful of berries better than any fruit he had tasted before.

Almost as good as candy. He licked his lips. Maybe better!

No wonder the League of Heroes had taken such methods to protect their secrets! But not a single berry would be left uneaten with the Great and Terrible Lloyd Garmadon around!

His eyes scanned his surroundings, looking for the dark shade of red that marked his objectives. Green, green, green, Spider!

Lloyd froze, watching as the tiny brown spider finished spinning her web.

It was so pretty! The lines clean and sharp, the pattern so carefully woven by a master of her craft. She finished, and rubbed her front legs together, settling in the center of her trap.

"Lloyd!"

Lloyd jumped, glancing towards the noise. He turned back to the spider who seemed to be watching him.

Lloyd put his hands together and bowed, "Bye bye Miss Spider! I love your web! It's very pretty! I hope you catch lots of tasty flies!"

The spider waved at him, and Lloyd grinned as he started to wiggle his way out of the Raspberry bushes.

Green, green, spiky branch, caterpillar!

"Lloyd?"

"Coming!" Lloyd yelled, pulling himself free from another spiky branch.

Wait. Red! Raspberries! Lots of raspberries! Sweet sweet yummy goodness. Not a single berry would be left abandoned! He had to rescue them from the forces of Good!

There was a rustling in the bushes as Lloyd rushed to get as many of the red berries off the bush and into his mouth as possible.

"There you are." Cole said, lifting him up.

"Hey!" Lloyd squirmed, there was still raspberries left! He was going eat them all! "Let me go! I wanna finished!"

"Hold your horses squirt." Cole said, lifting him up to the berries Lloyd couldn't reach.

"Yes!" Lloyd cheered, and started devesting the higher branches of their fruit. "None shall escape the great Lloyd Garmadon!"

Cole chuckled, "And has the great Lloyd Garmadon eaten his weight in raspberries yet?"

"Twice!" Lloyd declared, thinking of all the empty bushes he had left behind him and patting his full belly.

"And I thought I was a bottomless pit! Are you done yet?"

Lloyd considered, looking around to see if there were any more patches of red. "Can I have raspberries again?" He asked when he couldn't spy anymore.

"Tell you what kid, when we get settled somewhere, we'll come back and dig up one of these bushes and plant them in our backyard so you can have raspberries every year." Cole promised, turning Lloyd around so he could look him in the eye.

Lloyd considered, this wasn't a tomorrow thing, or a next week thing. This was years and years and years. "You're keeping me."

Cole blinked, "Yeah, we're keeping you." His eyes were really shiny, Lloyd hadn't noticed before.

"Forever and ever?" Lloyd pressed.

Cole hugged him, the teenager was shaking as he squished Lloyd against his chest. "I promise Lloyd, I don't care what happens, you'll always be my baby brother. Even if we have a massive fight and you decide to go to clown college or something, you can still come home to me."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: this was meant to be a Zane chapter. I tried really hard to make this a Zane chapter, but the Zane in my head is stuck in a processing loop and did not want to play.

* * *

Lloyd scanned the ground as he looked for something interesting, mud, mud, tree root, feather!

Lloyd picked up the feather, it was black and long, and made a zip noise as he ran his fingers along it.

Zip. Zip. Zip.

He smiled, running the feather along the back of his hand. It tickled, and a devious idea occurred to him.

He hid the feather up his sleeve, and wandered back to the ninja, grinning as he fell into step next to Zane.

Zane glanced down, but didn't say anything. Lloyd waited until he turned his attention elsewhere.

Poke.

No reaction.

Poke. Poke.

Still no response. Lloyd pouted and glared at the feather.

"Is that a raven feather?" Zane asked suddenly, causing Lloyd to jump, and hide the feather behind his back.

Zane was watching him, and Lloyd shyed away a bit from the blank expression on his face. Was Zane mad? Why did he think trying to tickle one of the ninja would be fun?

"May I see?" Zane asked, when Lloyd didn't answer his first question.

Lloyd sighed and offered out the feather wordlessly. He was in so much trouble.

Zane held the feather up to the sunlight, and nodded. "Raven feather." He held the feather a little above Lloyd's head, still in the sunlight, "Can you see how the feather gleams?"

Lloyd stared at it, half expecting a punishment to come out of left field. The feather shimmered with lots of different colours, like a dark rainbow. "I can see green!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"And that's how you know it's a raven feather. They look green, blue and purple in the sunlight. Crow feathers don't have the green, and are a bit more brown than black." Zane handed the feather back.

Lloyd held it up to the light again, watching how the colours shimmered. Lots of green, but there was purple and blue just as Zane said.

It was pretty.

The attack came when he least expected it. A blow to the head. Lloyd fell back, hitting the ground hard. Tears filling his eyes as he cried out.

"Lloyd!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Lloyd raised his arms to protect his aching head.

Warm arms wrapped around him, and Lloyd struggled.

"Hush, I've got you, let me see the damage." Kai pushed his arms to the side, and Lloyd calmed, tangling his fingers in red cloth.

"Is he okay?" Cole asked.

"I'm sorry." Lloyd repeated, sniffling.

"Just a bump." Kai said, as his voice warmed.

"You don't need to apologize Lloyd. I should have stopped you." Zane said. Lloyd bit his lip. He didn't understand.

"I think you did more damage to the tree." Jay commented. He dangled the feather in Lloyd's face.

Lloyd blinked and knocked the feather out of his eyes. He didn't want it anymore. "…tree?"

Kai turned him to face a small sapling. "You walked into a tree."

"No one hit me?" Lloyd asked in his smallest voice.

Kai hugged him tightly. "I promise Lloyd, no one hit you, anyone who dares gets a fireball to the face."

"I don't want to walk anymore." Lloyd said, burying his head in Kai's chest.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll win if we start a war with the trees. The mighty Lloyd Garmadon has already been defeated!" Jay laughed at his own joke and Lloyd had to bite back a fresh wave of tears.

Cole sighed heavily, "I'm afraid I have already fallen in battle against these hardy warriors."

Lloyd tilted his head so he could peer at Cole, and the teenager was grinning at him. Kai stood suddenly, and Lloyd found himself on Kai's back.

"Okay, this is a story I want to hear." Kai said, bouncing a bit as he returned to walking. Lloyd put his chin on Kai's shoulder and tightened his grip around Kai's neck.

"Of course you want to hear about my defeat." Cole said, falling into step beside Kai.

"Well we were there for your victories." Jay declared.

"Fine." Cole said, but Lloyd could tell he was amused. "So when I went running this morning, I tripped over a tree root, went rolling down a hill and slammed." Cole clapped his hands sharply, and Lloyd flinched "into a tree. The tree won. And then the hill wouldn't let me leave with my dignity intact, I kept sliding down the slope."

Jay and Kai both burst out laughing.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up you smucks. The Master of Earth defeated by a tree and a bit of mud." Cole shook his head, and raised an eyebrow at Lloyd.

Lloyd smiled back, feeling a strange warmth. Had Cole distracted them on purpose?

Kai stopped suddenly. "Wait, do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Jay asked, "All I can smell is mud and trees."

"Smoke!" Kai took off running. "Cooking fires!"

* * *

Cole fell back, deciding not to chase after Kai for once. Zane was being even quieter than usual. Cole wouldn't have noticed, but Zane hadn't laughed at his story, or even pretended to.

He tried to think of the best way to open the subject, since Zane tended to miss hints.

"Were you distressed?" Zane beat him to the punch.

"About hitting the tree?" Cole asked, trying to make light of the situation.

"No." Zane was staring at him. "You were running. You don't usually run away from us. I have observed that unusual behaviour is usually caused by emotional distress."

Cole felt his heart sink. "Ah. You caught that? I'm pretty sure the others thought I was making up a story to make the kid feel better." He rubbed the back of his head.

"You had a fresh layer of dirt on your clothes this morning." Zane explained. "I knew you had fallen."

"It just suddenly hit me. I can't go home. I mean I never wanted to, but it was there. A safety net." Cole picked his words carefully, feeling bad because Zane didn't even have the shadow of family to return to.

"I think I understand." Zane said. "What made you return?"

"I wasn't leaving." Cole denied. "I just needed to do something." He gestured helplessly, "I woke up and I panicked. It was stupid."

Zane considered. "So you do not intend to leave us?"

Cole smiled and threw an arm around his brother "I'm afraid you're stuck with me Frosty."

"Good." Zane said, "I do not wish to lose anyone else."

"You and me both brother."


End file.
